Chapter 154: Tutorial, How To Get Your Home Nuked

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The sea stretched out behind us, an endless canvas of blue that merged with the sky on the horizon. In front of us, however, there was no vast expanse of water but the sight of a city stuck inside a globe of glass.

With a blurry city of green skyscrapers inside, the Emerald City was a structure as majestic as the day we first saw it. 

It seemed as if it had been plucked from the realm of dreams and placed before us. Laps of water from this calm sea gently cascaded around the globe’s black stone platform, while the crystal ball around it shimmered with an ethereal emerald glow. 

Was there anyone alive who knew the unparalleled beauty and secrets of this city that the glass hid from the rest of the world? I doubted so; the Senju Pirates are to be the first to enter the city in the last eight hundred years.

“So those are the gates?”

Because we were right about to enter it.

Our boat floated gently, while dozens of sea kings lay dead behind us. Our eyes were glued on the two gates carved into the stone platform ahead, each beckoning with a promise of entry yet a silent challenge. Both were closed, but they seemed openable.

To our left, a gate adorned with a clashing sword symbol [⚔️] stood, its design simple yet imposing. To our right, another gate presented itself, marked by the symbol of a crown [👑], the implication of royal might. We were unsure what the marks actually meant, and if choosing a certain gate based on the mark was necessary.

“What mark means what?” Mikita asked with a dumb tone.

“Maybe you’d have known if you had education, but wait, you’re a sewer rat, so that was pretty much impossible. My bad.” Vivi said and Mikita scowled.

“Of course, now the spoiled privileged princess is attacking my upbringing. Sorry, I chose to be abandoned as a child,” she said and Vivi shut up. 

“No but seriously, what does it mean? Robin?” Nami looked at Robin who studied the engraving in detail, her eyes squinting. 

“From an obvious viewpoint, the sword symbolizes a path for those who are knights of this island? And the crown symbolizes the royalties or kings,” she said.

Tsunade hummed, “Possible. Or maybe the first one means treading through life with the weight of work and labor on their shoulders. Like common folk who had to pick up weapons to survive? The second exudes an air of regality and power, maybe it’s for people who are exceptionally good at fighting. Like… those with Conqueror’s Haki.”

“Supreme King Haki,” I mentioned the other name it’s known by. “I think sis has a point. The gate with the sword is to be used for normies, and the one with a crown is to be used by Supreme Kings.”

“What is a ‘normie’?” Vivi asked, tilting her head.

“You people,” I pointed at them all, other than Tsunade. “You are normies. My sister and I are Supreme Kings.”

“I’ll beat you up someday,” Mikita said.

“Whatever,” I turned to the gates. “Let’s try opening them now. Let’s go.”

— ….!!!!!!!!!

I concentrated my willpower in a singular line and slammed it against the gates. The waves rippled through the air, oozing out of me, as a vibrant green dome of my will bloomed beside the deep green glass dome.

After a few seconds, the gate with the crown symbol shifted. It trembled and with slight twitches, began to part. The gate parted in two, and water gushed into the path.

My as well as the crew’s reactions were mixed, some were excitement, apprehension, and some were suspicion. Nami began to twirl her head around to take a better look into the hall ahead to see if it was safe, while Robin pondered the knowledge hidden inside this gate. Tsunade, ever the strategist, considered the risks.

“Let’s all go through the same gate,” Tsunade decided. “We don’t know how to open the other one, and who knows, just having a Supreme King captain might allow the crew to enter too. We can’t take the risk of parting in two when we don’t even know how to open the other gate,” she said, and everyone agreed, including me.

Yet, it was the spirit of adventure, the very essence that bound us as the Senju Pirates, that swayed our decision toward the gate of kings.

As our boat drew closer to the chosen gate, it responded to our presence, pulsating with a soft, ethereal light that seemed to pierce through the very fabric of reality. And just after our ship entered the threshold as if the city itself had accepted our challenge, an ancient text appeared before us, its message clear and foreboding:

[Welcome to the King's Trial]

“Ah, hologram technology. Impressive.” I said, while the gate shut behind us. I had watched enough movies in my past life to have expected this, but the majority of the girls appeared stunned by that.

Karoo was shaking, even. In an instant, the world around us has shifted. The tranquil sea and the shimmering city were gone, replaced by the confines of a slim and dark watery hallway. 

As we streaked ahead, the once-open skies were obscured by towering walls and high ceilings that seemed to stretch into infinity in this darkness. I created a Rasengan of bright orange Ramen to use as a small sun that lit up the area.

The air was charged with a sense of nervousness and anticipation. Our ship came to a stop against a platform in the hallway where the water sea met a stone pathway. It was a pristine clear path that reflected the light, made out of obsidian stone.

“Looks like we need to get off here,” I said, looking around to make sure. I created a woodclone just in case and made it jump down. What if there were traps? No need to take meaningless risks.

The clone landed safely. Then it ran around just to make sure there were no traps. A minute later, it showed me a thumbs-up. It was safe.

I nodded and turned to my crew, “Come, jump.” I said and waited for them to jump down one by one. Marianne and Karoo jumped last, and when all were gone, I jumped too. I landed right beside them, leaving the boat behind.

– Dham!

A huge wall fell from above, and we immediately turned back to look. Behind us, the part where the water met stone had been closed off access by a black stone wall. Our ship wasn’t visible anymore, any exit was truly blocked.

“This is creeping me out, kinda,” Mikita cleared her throat and said.

“Everything will be fine,” I hoped. No, I’m here, I’ll make sure everything is fine. “At least we know which path to take. Let’s walk.”

All of us exchanged one last look before we began to walk inside. My clone walked ahead of us with Ramen Rasengan lighting on its hands, acting like a torch as well as a bait. 

We were more than a crew bound by our shared trials and the promise of adventure. With a deep breath, we stepped into a spiraling… maze. Our journey through the entry to the Emerald City began with a determination to uncover the mysteries that lay at the heart of the city, as well as greed for adventure.

Back then, we didn’t know that simply entering the maze had alerted entities both in and out of this city. I wish I did, things might have taken a different turn then.

* * *

In Mariejois, the Holy Land of Gods, the owner of the ownerless seat, Imu-sama was sitting on her throne as she tilted her head in surprise. One of her pre-set alarms had just been notified in her head.

“Ah…” she murmured something under her breath.

“Is there anything wrong, Imu-sama?” Garling asked as he kneeled beneath the stairs beside the Five Gorosei. He had just been reporting the incident of the Senju Pirate’s escape, as he had just returned to Mariejois earlier today.

“There is,” Imu-sama said, gently grabbing the bounty poster of Vivi that was tucked into the side of her clothes. “It seems Alabasta is… rebelling.”

Not only did Vivi have a 300 Million Bounty, she had just invaded one of the legends of the world. Imu herself wasn’t aware of its current location, but she had positioned a small alarm when she was there last time. Thanks to that, she knew Vivi wasn’t safe to be kept alive anymore. As well as the rest of her people.

Wasn’t Alabasta the place where not only Vivi, but in extension Tsunade Senju and her brother, as well as Nico Robin and Mikita too had come out?

“A cursed country, indeed,” Imu-sama muttered as the elders looked up at her with slightly shocked eyes, though they quickly hid it. “We know what to do with a cursed country, do we not? Prepare the erasure.”

The end of Alabasta was here.

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